Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-01-08

mani everexpected to see at church! Come,
take this seat right down by the doorw in
stead of saying: "Good-morning am glad
you are here. Come: will give you o ilrst-
rate seat, right up by the pulpitn Well, the
prodigal, not yet discouraged, enters prayer
meeting, and some Christian man, with more
ual than comm N sense, says: ''Glad to see
you. The dying thief was saved, and sup
pose there is mercy for you" The young
man, disguised, chilled, throws himself back
on his dignity, resolved that he never will
enter the house OF God again. Perhaps
not quite fully discouraged about reforma-
ton, he sides up by some highly respecta-
be man he used to know, going down
the street, and Immediately the respecta-
bic man has an errand down some
other street, Well, the prodigal. wishing to
return, taxes some member Of Christian as
ISOLATION by the hand, or tries to. The
Christian young man looks at him. looks at
sthe faded apparel and marks of dissipation,
and. instead of giving him a warm grip of
the hand, offers h IN the tip end of the long
finger of the LETT hand, which is equal to
striking man in the face.
Oh, how few Christian people understand
how much force and gospel there is in q
good, honest Misunderstanding Sometimes
when you have felt the need of encourage
ment and some Christian man ha; taken you
heartily by the hand, have you not felt
thrilling through every fibre of your body,
mind and soul, an encouragement that was
just what you needed! You do not know
ANYTHING at oil aoout this, unless you know
when man tries to return from evil courses
of conduct he runs against repulsions innr-
merable We say of some man, he lives
block or two from the church or half mile
from the church There are people in our
crowded cities who live thousand miles
from church. Vast deserts of Indifference
between them an the house of God! The
fact is, we must keep our respe liability,
though thousands and tens of thousands
perish. Christ sat with publcians and sim
ners. But if there come to the house of God
O man with marks of dissipation upon him.
people almost brow up their hands in horror,
as much as to say: '1sn't it shockings" How
these dainty, iastiiious Christions in all our
churches are going to get into heaven don't
know, unless they have an especial train of
cars, cushioned and upholstered, each one a
car to himself They cannot go with the
great herd of publicans aud sinners Oh We
who curl your lip of scorn at the fallen, / tell
you plainly. if you had been surrounded by
the same influences, instead of sitting to-day
amid the cultured, and ths refined, and the
Christian, you would have been a crouching
wretch in stable or ditch covered with filth
and illumination. 1t is not because you are
naturally any better, but be ,ause the mercy
of God has protected you. Who are you that
brought up in Christian circles, and watched
by Christian paTentage, you should be so
hard on the fallen! l think men also
ara often hindered from return by the fact
that churches are too anxious about their
membership and too anxious about their de-
nomination, and they rush out when they
see man about to give up his sin and return
to God, and ask him how he is going to be
baptized, whether by sprinkling or INNER
sion, and what kind of church he is going to
Join. o, my friends 1t is a poor time to
talk about Presbyterian catechisms, and
Episcopal liturgies, and Methodist love feasts,
aud baptistries, to man that is coming out
of the darkness of sin into the glorious light
Of the gospel. Why, it reminds me of q maa
browning in the sea, and lifeboat puts out
for him, and the man in the boat says to the
man out of the boat: "Now, if get you
ashore, are you going to live in my streetr
First, get him ashore and then talk about the
non-essentials of religion. Who cares what
church he joins if he only joins Christ and
starts for heavens o, you ought to have,
my brother, an illumined lace AMI hearty
grip for every one that tries to turn from
his evil way. Take held of the same book
with him, though his designations shake
tho book, remembering that he that
converteth sinner from the error of his
ways shall save a soul f.om death, and hide
a multitude Of sins. Now. have shown you
these obstacles because want you to under
stand know all the diljicu ties in the way;
but l am now to tell you how Hannibal may
s,alethe Alps. and how the shackles may DO
unriveted, and how the paths of virtue for
saken may be regained. First OF all, my
brother, throw yourself on God. Go to him
frankly and earnestly. aud tell Him these
habits you nave, and ask Him if there is any
help in all the resources of omnipotent love,
to give it to you. Do not 60 with a long
rigmarole people call prayer, made up Of
''ohs' and ''ahsn and Nforever and forever,
amens" Go t, God and cry for help! help
help! and il you cannot cry for help, Just
look and live. Irene nber in the late war
was a. Antietam, aud went into the hos2i-
tails alter the attic, and | said to a man:
where are you hurtg" He made no an
swer. but held up his arm, swollen and
splintered. l saw where he was hurt. The
simple fact is, when a man has a wounded
soul, all he has to do is to b I'D it up be-
fore sympathetic Lord and get it healed. It
does not take any long prayer. Just hold up
the woun1. ., it is NJ small thing when a
man Is nervous and weak and ex.
hausted, coming from the evil ways,
to feel that God puts two omnipotent
arms around about him and says:
Young. man, / will stand by you. The
mountains may depart and the hills be re-
moved, Lut will never fail you" And then,
as the soul thinks the news IS too good to be
true, and cannot believe it, and looks up in
Gods face, God lifts his right hand aud takes
an oath, an affidavit saying: "As / live,
Shltn une LOru GOu, nave no pleasure In the
death of him that dieth" BE ised be God
for such gospel as thisl Cut the slices
thin," said the wife to the husband, Tor there
will not be enough t. go all around for the
children; cut the slices thin" Blessed be
God. there is a full loaf for every one that
wants it; bread enough and to spare No
thin slices at the Lords table. l re-
member when the Master Street Hospital,
in Philadelphia, was opened during the
war, telegram came saying: ''There will
be 800 wounded men tonight, be ready to
take care of them;" and from my church
there went in some twenty or thirty men
and women to look after thess poor wounded
fellows. AS they came, some from one part
of ths land, some from another, no one asked
whether this man was from Oregon, or from
Massachusetts,, or from Minnesota, or from
New York. There was a wounded soldier,
aud the only quest on was how to take off
the rags most gently. and put on
the baDdage, and adj mister the cordial.
And when a soul comes to God,
He does not ask where you came
from or what your ancestry was. Healing
for all your wounds. Pardon for all your
guilt. Comfort for all your troubles Then,
also, counsel you, il you want to get back,
to quit all your bad assoc citations. One unholy
intimacy will fill your soul with mora! dis
temper. 1t all the ages of the church, there
has not been an ms auce where man kept